If you missed the first post in the series, you can find it here:
Week 1 – Worry: It’s a Real Thing

I bolted from my room as the fire alarm sounded and I rushed to the bedrooms where my children lay sleeping. When the fire alarm goes off in the middle of the night, there’s really nothing like it. The heart-pounding result is incomparable.

First thought – my kids!

My husband made the command, “Stay here with the children, and I will check out the house!”

I stood at the top of the steps trembling, blinking quickly trying to see through the dark. I waited to hear Rob’s voice over the sound of the alarm while thinking through how I was going to get all of the children up and out of the house.

My mind went through all the possibilities in an instant. I imagined carrying the two hardest sleepers on my shoulders while I frantically woke the other two. And we would run as fast as we could.

It didn’t cross my mind to grab anything or to stop long enough to even pick up one belonging. I was determined to get my children to safety.

As I think back on that night, I’m reminded how much more my heavenly Father wants to get me to a place of spiritual security.

When the sirens of life go off and threaten to make me melt beneath the weight of worry, God is reminding me that I am valuable. The stuff and the belongings mean nothing when it comes to spiritual things.

As we laid our heads back down on our pillows that night and wondered why the false alarm, I couldn’t help but think of all the alarms in life that make us worry.

It’s the aches and pains, a new bump or lump, the reactions of our friends or the lack of response to a text. It’s the unknown future, the concern of what we said or didn’t say, and the struggle to just fit in with someone, somehow, someway.

It’s the desire to be enough, a good mom, wife, friend, lover, or house keeper. It’s that longing to know that you are needed and have a purpose in this messed up world. It’s the desire to live with confidence and assurance that you are making a difference.

When the alarms of life cause us to bolt out of bed in shock, panic, and instant fear of the future, there’s one simple change I want to challenge you with this week.

As I stood there at the edge of the top step and my mind was consumed with my children, I was compelled to thank God for the people in my life. I had a moment when I thought perhaps this is the final breath. And I gasped, “Thank you, God.”

Thanks-giving was my heart’s cry. And in that split second, God gave me a word to replace the worry – “Thank you.” When life knocks the wind out of you with an alarm you weren’t expecting, think thanks. It’s no easy task, but it’s one way to declare war on worry.

Worry can’t sustain its worth when it’s faced with a woman ready to think thanks.

Today, I challenge you to think thanks throughout your day. Whatever you face, no matter how hard, think thanks.

What are you thankful for today? Say it loud! Say it clear! Thanks-living is the way to declare war on worry!

Love & Blessings,

Read the next post in the series here: “What If” vs. “What Is”